Gov. Robert Bentley makes it official: He’s running for re-election

Gov. Robert Bentley announced his bid for a second term via e-mail Tuesday, saying he wanted to continue working on rebuilding the state’s economy.

“Our state has been through a great deal of hardship over the last two years, but we have also enjoyed a great deal of success,” Bentley said in a statement released by his campaign. “I am proud of the progress we have made, especially when it comes to economic prosperity. I look forward to continuing that progress in a second term.”

Bentley, a dermatologist and former state representative, emerged out of a crowded field to win the Republican nomination for governor in 2010. Bentley was swept to office in a Republican landslide later that year, a landslide that also brought in the first Republican legislature in Alabama since Reconstruction.

The governor has made job creation the primary goal of his administration, and his term has seen an easing of the state’s dire unemployment rate and the arrival of some industries in the state, including Airbus. Bentley’s years in office have also been marked by a fight over immigration that embroiled the state in lawsuits over his first two years in office.